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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationNew rules add thousands to the cost of a new home as Tasmania falls years behind on housing
New rules add thousands to the cost of a new home as Tasmania falls years behind on housing
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The final stage of the Livable Housing Design Standard came into effect today. Unless a home is exempt, it must now comply with all of Part H8 of the National Construction Code.
HIA Executive Director Tasmania Benjamin Price said the timing could hardly be worse.
"We're in a cost of living crisis, and Tasmania is well behind on the new homes we've committed to build. Today the Government has made every one of those homes more expensive to deliver," Mr Price said.
"HIA estimates these changes add around $15,000 to $18,000 to the cost of a typical new home. Some of our members are telling us it's considerably more on some projects. Those costs don't disappear, they will be passed on to the future homeowner."
Tasmania's share of the National Housing Accord target is 26,000 new homes by June 2029.
The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council's latest assessment estimates Tasmania won't reach that figure until September 2033, more than four years late.
"We are already behind, and adding costs to every new home will only push us further back.”
Mr Price said the case for the changes doesn't stack up even on the Australian Building Codes Board's own figures.
"The government's own analysis showed the costs are well above the benefits.
Costs would need to fall by more than half just to break even and that's why HIA has never supported this policy," he said.
"Nobody is against accessible homes. People who need them, or want them, should be able to choose them. But making every new home pay for features most buyers didn't ask for is not good policy given our significant housing supply challenges."
The changes come in the same month TasWater ends the two-year holiday on fixed water and sewerage charges for newly created land titles. That adds around $900 a year for every vacant lot.
"Put these together and the message to anyone trying to get into a new home is clear. It costs more, from today," Mr Price said.
"If the Government is serious about meeting its housing targets, it should be removing costs from new homes, not adding them."
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